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Panthers owner Richardson needs heart transplant

Rooney is very tight with Richardson. Everyone says that whenever they have league meetings, Rooney pretty much does everything with the Panthers' Richardson and the Giants' Mara. Those three seem to be virtually inseparable, always saving seats for each other at the meetings, dining together afterward, etc. Here's hoping all goes well for him.

Panthers owner Richardson needs heart transplant

By MIKE CRANSTON
AP Sports Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, the first former NFL player since George Halas to become a team owner, is in need of a heart transplant and has been placed on a donor waiting list.

The 72-year-old Richardson has been hospitalized since last week after complaining he didn't feel well. After a battery of tests, doctors determined he needed a transplant, a team spokesman said Wednesday.

Provided a donor heart can be found, Richardson will undergo the surgery at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. According to the American Heart Association, there are more than 2,000 heart transplants performed in the United States each year, with a five-year survival rate of 72 percent for males.

Richardson has a history of heart trouble and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2002. Doctors last month installed a pacemaker to control his heart's rhythm.

His absence on game days and during the week while he's been hospitalized has brought a noticeable void. The seriousness of his illness brought a somber atmosphere to Bank of America Stadium, two days after the Panthers' 38-23 win over Tampa Bay left them 10-3 and atop the NFC South.

Richardson and his two sons worked for years to get an NFL expansion team, a prospect at one time thought impossible for Charlotte. The former Baltimore Colts receiver, who caught the winning touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1959 NFL championship game, was awarded the expansion Panthers in 1993.

The team began play two years later and Richardson has become an influential owner in the league, serving on powerful committees and being on the negotiating team with the players union on the league's collective bargaining agreement.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell visited Richardson in the hospital on Monday before attending Carolina's game against the Buccaneers. He said then that Richardson remained confident he would continue to play a strong role in league activities.

"I think what they have done here is create a franchise that is not only admired in its own community, but admired league-wide," Goodell said Monday. "It's what we want our franchises to be, a great part of the community, and that is large part due to Jerry Richardson."

Richardson's sons, Mark and Jon, play major roles in running the team and Bank of America Stadium, which is also owned by Richardson.

Richardson's stamp on the franchise is visible everywhere. The team holds training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., his alma mater, and the team's stadium has strict rules for fan conduct.

Richardson, nicknamed "Big Cat," is known for taking newly drafted players on a golf-cart ride of the grounds at Bank of America Stadium, giving a stern pep talk about the proper behavior he expects from his players.